Justin Maxwell strikes out in the fourth, leaving him 4-for-35 this spring.

JUPITER, Fla. — Hello from Roger Dean Stadium, joint spring home of the Marlins and Cardinals. The Marlins are our hosts today, with the Nationals making the trek down I-95 for part two of a home-and-home exhibition series. (Florida won yesterday's ballgame in Viera, 5-3.)

Good pitching matchup today, with John Lannan and Josh Johnson facing each other in a rematch of last year's Opening Day in Miami. Lannan has kind of been under the radar all spring for the Nats, in part because of all the Stephen Strasburg hype, in part because one of his starts was rained out and another one was in a road split-squad game. But now it's time for Lannan to start getting serious. Including today, he's got three more starts down here before facing Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Co. on April 5.

Be sure to check back for updates throughout the afternoon, and check the homepage for any non-game news…

Mark,Right now, would you like to have Desmond as the Nats everyday SS? For the sounds of it, I think, even though he's young, Ian has been outplaying Desmond. On another note, your blog is great and I love reading Nats news updated daily and even hourly.

3 errors for Desmond this spring. Guzman has one and probably will have more given the situation. I don't know, they may still decide that Desmond needs more seasoning in the field at shortstop. Probably would have were it not for Guzman's decline. Guess, like Mike Morse in Seattle, he will have try to learn and get better at the position on the job.

Desmond is his own worst enemy. He is the reason he has not been named the Nats SS with Guz going to the DL to start the season to fix his arm or be traded to the AL. If Desmond could play defense to make all the routine plays and only some of the spectacular ones he would be just fine. I am sure he is aware of this but it doesn't seem to sink in or, maybe, his adrenilin is just flowing. All that said, he still should be the starter at short and he will learn as he goes. It is not as if a few more errors at SS will cost the Nats the playoffs. His offense will offset the errors.

Oh YEAH! Who can say Opening Day SS = Mike Morse or Eric Bruntlett. Ian Desmond is playing the same at SS as he had since his first minor league game…spectacular plays are made and routine ones are always errors, something is wrong mentally with this kid, he is too full of himself to get his head in the game, I would like to see Tim Foli to run him through the wringer on some fielding drills!

Couple of points. Desmond's problems are a function of concentration, not athletic skill. Nats fan who suggested Foli do something besides roam around and try to look important is dead on. Drills for ID, drills, drills, drills.Nice to see Riggleman is cutting Bergman some slack. He seems to be a good kid, who really improved his approach last year.

Noting here again, the very interesting coincidence that: Aaron Thompson, Drew Storen, Steven Strasburg, Michael Burgess, Danny Espinosa (also perhaps Derrick Noriss, Steven Lombardozzi? Jeff Kobernus?) will all be in Harrisburg together for some time. Seems like that's the place they may draw from as opposed to Syracuse? Wondering why Brian Oliver still has Drew Storen closing in Syracuse?